Another Christmas has come and gone, with its tidings of cheer and good will to all. Indeed, the generosity of the holiday is something that even the non-Christians like about it, whether it’s giving to one of the myriad Salvation Army buckets or other religious charities or merely exchanging gifts among family and/or friends. I couldn’t help but reflect upon all of this before going with some friends to see the decidedly un-Christmas movie American Hustle by director David O. Russell, of such gems as Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, and The Silver Linings Playbook.
As I’m not really knowledgeable of the history of white-collar crime, I’ll take the movie at its word that this was one of the most ingenious anti-scam plots devised by the FBI. To be honest, even when I saw previews for this several months ago I wasn’t drawn in by it. However, after the film was released I did hear and read multiple people saying how it was worth checking out so I decided why not.
One of the first things I noticed watching the film was just how much of a change Christian Bale had gone through since The Dark Knight Rises. Where once he played the clean-cut, action-movie physique Bruce Wayne/John Connor/John Preston, now he’s the fat, middle-aged, and balding Irving Rosenfeld; the image of a Dicky Eklund from The Fighter who had has stuff slightly more together crossed my mind.
That or a saner version of this guy at any rate.
I found it interesting that that image of Dicky Ecklund crossed my mind, as Russell was also the director of that same movie (which I would highly recommend if you’re looking for a good sports movie to watch); another similarity I noticed was the slightly faded style and prevalence of warm colors that the movie was shot in to give it that feel of being in the past. I’ll be interested to see if Bale pulls off a scumbag hat trick in any future films with the guy.
Between this and fedoras, I’m not sure which one people think less of.
And speaking of scumbags, I think Bradley Cooper may have finally found a rival for his character in Wedding Crashers in terms of douchey bro-ness in FBI Agent DiMaso. It was interesting seeing: how DiMaso tried to bag more and more people into his ABSCAM, how incompetent he was most of the time dealing with the perps, and how tweaked out he became right before the case was closed. I was wondering at the end why they didn’t explicitly show him doing any drugs, which I thought his screaming, forcing himself on Amy Adams, and beating his commanding officer Louis CK with a telephone was highly indicative of; then I remembered that this movie was partly based on historical events and supposed that there may not have been proof of DiMaso’s drug use. DiMaso also reminded me a good amount of Agent Steve Haines, Grand Theft Auto V’s resident douche FBI agent.
I suppose when your organization is founded by an off-kilter jerk, it shouldn’t be a surprise if a few more show up later.
I also reflected on a comment that Rosenfeld made to him about how he was just as crooked as he was, in that DiMaso was only trying to make a name for himself by busting the elected officials and thereby giving Americans even a less of a reason to trust/value the government after the Watergate Scandal and Jimmy Carter’s presidency, and realized that Rosenfeld may have been on to something. I also thought back on whether or not DiMaso’s plan would count as entrapment or not, considering that the crooked politicians (or some of them at any rate) didn’t look like they were going to look for bribes on their own. I could certainly be wrong on that, seeing as how I’m no lawyer.
And certainly not any simple country hyper-chicken one at that.
Amy Adams, another star from The Fighter (specifically the love interest), definitely gave a good performance Rosenfeld’s partner-in-crime and quasi partner-in-romance Sydney Prosser. On the whole I would say that her interactions with Bale’s character were good, showing them as they were falling in love, then out, then in again. She also served as an adequate foil to Rosenfeld’s wife Rosalyn who, despite her overall detestability, provides some very amusing scenes in the film. However, I ironically felt that Adams’ accent when she WASN’T masquerading was all over the place and the inferior of the two. Also, I will admit that at first I thought she was Jenna Fischer, and that she was trying to ensure she would not be typecast into more Pam Beesley-type roles; to this day I still have a hard time telling the two apart.
For all I know this could very well be an elaborate mirror or wax dummy.
I also have to say that Russell’s take on New Jersey in this era was nowhere near as seedy as I expected it to be. It never ceases to amaze me just how many crime films take place there, which I feel is one of the main factors of why Jersey has the reputation it does, with some possible others being its pollution in the northern half, licentiousness in the southern half, and poverty liberally scattered across both. To put it another way, I found it hard to disagree with this comparison of New Jersey to the Iron Islands in Game of Thrones.
The fact that there were two teams with an iron-man theme doesn’t help much either.
Refreshingly, American Hustle mixes this trend up (at least a little bit) by taking place in southern Jersey instead of northern Jersey and, more importantly, isn’t portrayed as the COMPLETE wretched hive of scum and villainy it usually is (instead only a moderate one at worst). I would say the best example of this is in Jeremy Renner’s performance, playing the Camden mayor Carmine Polito (before it became the murder capital of the east coast); he was certainly much better than I initially expected him to be and easily one of the better performances in the film. His performance actually made me believe that Polito sincerely believed that establishing casinos in Atlantic City would help make that part of the state less of a craphole (which also made me feel sorry for him as well, considering what Camden and Atlantic City are now). I also applaud the writers for making Polito still seem like a mostly decent guy even after it was revealed he was working with the mob (as represented by uncredited cameo Robert De Niro).
Maybe the longer his hair is, the more powerful his acting becomes?
New previews included Sabotage, where Ahnuld is starring a completely not-tongue-in-cheek capacity fighting Mexican drug cartels (who I suspect are becoming Hollywood’s new go-to foreign baddies), and the Robocop remake. Considering that I hold the first Robocop as one of the best encapsulations of public consciousness in the mid-to-late 80s, I’m morbidly curious to see what they do with this new version. Even having Samuel Jackson in it doesn’t alleviate my concerns much, if you can believe it. Also, seeing as how I forgot to mention it in my last review, apparently a feature film of the Coca-Cola polar bears has been made, because apparently enough of the movie-going public just HAD to know how those bears got their paws on that Coca-Cola in the middle of the Arctic.
I guess bears trying to eat healthy just isn’t as appealing to Americans…
I give American Hustle three science-ovens out of five. Definitely a good way to wrap up the 2013 Oscar season, and any acting Oscars the cast wins would certainly be well-deserved in my opinion. With that being said, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing just what 2014 has to offer to the silver screen.
Random Doesnt Even Begin To Describe It 
